🔖 Read The Coming Enshittification of Public Libraries.

Karawynn Long compares the trajectory of Overdrive/Libby to platforms like Amazon and Facebook and finds a lot to worry about. An important read for those of us in libraryland.

@KimberlyHirsh bookmarking because “enshittification” is a word I want to use copiously. And because I love libraries.

@Annie Ah. Cory Doctorov coined it. Definitely read!

@Annie @KimberlyHirsh There’s something about Overdrive/Libby that always sat wrong with me, and I think this is it.

@SimonWoods @kimberlyhirsh @Annie @JohnBrady

Private equity: “We care about maximizing our portion of it, and it’s none of your business.”

@JohnBrady I've started checking out physical books whenever possible. There are accessibility issues here - so it won't work for everyone (homebound people, for example) - but it's definitely a great step if you can do it.

@pimoore I have loved using it and it saved my bacon when I was traveling away from my home library for months, but the monopoly of it all is so concerning.

@SimonWoods Yup.

@KimberlyHirsh That is a very good piece. The entire Substack is fascinating: thanks for alerting us to it.